Article: Commuters seethe over delay

[Fares_Fair]

Article: Commuters seethe over delay
Patrick Williams | 18th April 2012 5:00 AM
Sunshine Coast Daily

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2012/04/18/commuters-seethe-after-another-delay/

SUNSHINE Coast and Caboolture commuters faced major delays yesterday morning after another fault on the train tracks.

Thousands were held up for up to an hour due to a points failure at Petrie which stopped trains from changing to other lines.

The problem came a week after Transport Minister Scott Emerson announced an independent audit of the rail networks in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich and the Coast to assess the reliability and integrity of the system.

Commuter advocate Jeff Addison, who was caught up in the drama, said train users were sick of the hold-ups.

He and fellow passengers spent the majority of the hour and 10 minute delay just north of Dakabin station.

"It's certainly frustrating. The Sunshine Coast line seems to cop it a lot," Mr Addison said.

"The new transport minister himself has admitted that we have infrastructure problems on our line.

"No one was happy about it. The regular commuters are used to it, but those going into city for appointments and meetings were shocked, and frustrated and annoyed."

Mr Addison welcome Mr Emerson's audit.

"Part of the frustration of commuters is that they're not told why these faults are happening," he said.

Translink said the delay was caused by a points failure first reported between 4am and 5am.

It directly affected the mechanism that allows rail lines to alter the paths of trains.

Queensland Rail technicians were dispatched to rectify the problem.

Buses were called in between Caboolture and Petrie to transport travellers.

The fault was eventually fixed but delays to inbound and outbound trains remained in place up until at least 11am.

[Stillwater]

The reliability of the SCL is an issue that the new government cannot ignore.  The line is so overworked that a minor incident has major consequences.  QR is in denial if it cannot give on-time performance data by line.  It is almost as though QR wants to curtail growth in patronage on the line.  Longer travel times and express running through fewer stations, while contributing to orderly timetabling, contradict what customers were told before the last timetable change.

[Fares_Fair]

I received this piece of advice today via an RTI request.
Question on Notice No. 1900, of Tuesday, 2 December 2008 and made by Mr Peter Wellington, Independent (Nicklin).

QR Passenger Pty Ltd advises that it is restricted in the number of services it can provide
to the Sunshine Coast due to the fact that the line is also an extremely busy freight line,
operating on single track working north of Caboolture.

Excerpt above is opening paragraph.